Tales of Symphonia: Dark Beginnings
by crimsonflamedhaze
Summary: Lloyd has just finished reunited the worlds when he was unexpectedly thrown backwards in time to the beginning of his journey. However, what he didn't expect was a completely different future...
1. A horrible nightmare of things to come

**Tales of Symphonia: Dark Beginnings**

I do not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. I do own my waffles, though.

Disclaimer: There are spoilers for those who playing and/or anticipating for Tales of Symphonia and the spin-off sequel, so if you do not want to ruin the storyline for either games I suggest you to stop reading here, go outside, and do something productive for society.

* * *

_Ugh. Why is it so hot around me? Fire? Ah, this is..._

The boy looked around. Buildings were ablaze. Rubble was everywhere.

_Where am I? Why is the city on fire? I have to find mother and father._

The boy walked on. As he did, he saw bodies lying on the fiery pavement. The town hall was in a ruin. The church was nothing but a burning hump of wood and brick. The smell of death was in his nose. He could see several of the dead lying on the ground with slash marks. Blood was everywhere. Then, he found them.

"_Mother? Father?_" The boy cried.

Blood was poring from both of them. His father was already dead. A deep wound was slashed across his stomach. His intestines were sprawled out in front of him in a bloody mess. His mother was lying next to him. Her blood was flowing out of her body like a river. A deep gash can be seen across her chest.

The boy yelled, "_MOM!" _He rushed to her side.

"_E...mi...l, get away... from here..."_

"_Mom, don't worry, you'll be alright." _Tears were flowing from Emil's eyes.

"_Run... to Luin... Don't look back. The person who... did this was... L.. yd Ir... g," _the mother collapsed.

"_MOM!" _Emil screamed.

* * *

Emil woke up in cold sweat. He took deep gulps and opened the window. It was a horrible nightmare. Why was he dreaming something so dreadful when the chosen of mana was going to regenerate the world? Whatever the case was, he hoped that this dream would not become reality.


	2. Trouble at the Otherworldly Gate

**Tales of Symphonia-Dark Beginnings**

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk/Dawn of the New World. Those are officially owned by Bandai-Namco. Spoilers are a plenty. Now on to the story.

* * *

Lloyd Irving, one of the heroes of World Regeneration, looked at the star filled night sky. Their journey has been over for nearly half a year. Everyone was doing something different. Colette was busy reforming the Church of Martel. Genis and Raine was traveling around the world to try and try to change people's hearts towards half-elves; Zelos and Sheena were busy with ambassador work between the united government of Tethe'alla and the non-united Sylvarant. However, their work were getting more difficult due to tensions between the people's resentment towards each other. Presea and Regal were busy with the reconstruction of Ozette. Lloyd, himself, charged himself with the task of retrieving the exspheres of the world. Currently, he has been successful. He managed to dispose of many of the exspheres that he found.

He sighed. He wondered how everyone has been. He has not seen them for so long; it seemed like eternity. He knew that his mission was important. Exspheres were harmful to a person's heath. Misusing one would be devastating. Lloyd has witnessed the effects of exspheres on his friends. Colette and Presea suffered because of the parasitic effects of the jewel. Marble, Genis' friend and grandmother of Chocolat, turned into a monster because her key crestless exsphere was removed. Seeing so many of these horrible spheres destroyed lifted his fear of others experiencing the same fate.

Lloyd was on a cliff on the outskirts of Altamira, overlooking the Otherworldly Gate. He thought back to the time when he and his group was there. Raine recovered her lost memories of when she and Genis were abandoned there. It was also when they made their perilous escape from the Papal Knights by jumping into the gate and crossed back into Sylvarant. Memories overwhelmed him.

"_Maybe I should take a break tomorrow and visit Regal at the Lezanaro Company to see how he is doing_." He thought.

Lloyd shifted to get into a better position to sleep. As he turned, he saw a glint at the pillars that made up the Otherworldly Gate.

"_Was that an illusion_?" Lloyd asked himself.

It wasn't. Although the light was faint, he would make out two figures standing in the middle of the monument. He was wide awake now. Whatever the light was, it does not seem like a good sign.

"_So much for getting some rest_," Lloyd thought angrily.

Right now, he had more important things in mind. Who are those people and why are they at the Otherworldly Gate at this time. He swiftly got on his rheaird, powered up the engines and flew off towards the island.

"_I hope I get there in time to see what those people are trying to do._" Lloyd thought. "_And to stop them from doing something that is irreversible."_


	3. Enter into the Demonic Gap

**Tales of Symphonia – Dark Beginnings**

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Namco -Bandai does. I do own the copies of the games though. Spoilers to the last dungeon of Dawn of the New World are in this chapter. If you do not want to get spoilers, turn back now. Please read the Author's note at the end.

* * *

Location: Otherworldly Gate

The rheiard soared through the silent night. Everything was steady, except Lloyd's heart. His heart was beating at a fast rate. Afraid? No, more like apprehensive. If you just saw something that looked out of the ordinary than you would be nervous too. And the activation of the Otherworldly Gate fits the description of "out of the ordinary" completely. Since it was the one of the two poles of the once split worlds, it would only lead in between the two dimensions. Where would it lead to now that the world was reunited? Most importantly, Why would anyone activate it?

These questions pounded Lloyd's skull as he neared the stone monument that formed the Gate. The figures he saw early were no longer there, but a strange spell marking was glowing between the cold, stone pillars. He quickly landed the rheiard and jumped off in front of the monument. There were freshly made footsteps made in the damp grass.

"So, there were people here. I wasn't imagining things," Lloyd thought. "Then again, a strange spell mark would prove that someone would be here, unless it's a natural occurrence. Even if, it's not even a full moon. What exactly is going on here?"

He moved closer to the center of the stone dais. It was still glowing brightly. A portal laid wide open. The footsteps ended at the edge of the shining circle.

"So whoever they are, they went through the portal to who-knows-where."

As Lloyd pondered on the subject, a hand of light crawled out of the spell circle. In distraught, Lloyd did not notice the object. It sped along the ground and grabbed the swordsman's ankle.

"Arg! What the..." Lloyd cursed and fell to the ground.

He looked at the hand as it dragged him towards the glowing portal. He unsheathed one of his swords and tried to hack at it. Despite his efforts, it did not work. He made one last effort to break free from the creature that was clinging on to him but to no avail. Lloyd cried out as he was dragged into the dark abyss.

* * *

Location: Gungugin Gap

Lloyd woke up in a headache. He was on a platform suspended above a bottomless pit. The ground he was on was soft like grass, yet made out of a strange material. All around him were shooting stars in the teal background. There was a light mist on the ground. He looked down, there were other platforms, all connected only by a single path leading to the bottom. On the horizon, he saw other weird towers that were magenta in color. He looked behind him and saw three of the pillars that made up the Otherworldly Gate. Unfortunately for Lloyd, there was no glowing portal to the outside world.

"Damn. Where exactly am I?" Lloyd said with a worried voice. Of course, there was no one nearby to answer him. Then, it hit him. The two he saw before. Perhaps they would know where he is. "They probably are far ahead already. But I can still catch them if I hurry!" Lloyd thought as he started running.

He followed the green path down all the way down to the bottom. As he ran, he could not help noticing the branch-like objects that held the platforms up. "They look like tree branches..." his thoughts reverted to the Great Karlan Tree but he shook it off. "Whatever these things are, I have to find whoever those guys are and ask where in Sylvarant am I."

Lloyd then drew closer to the bottom platform and saw a weird apparatus. It had eight circles on the outer edge of the object. Each with its own symbol on it. He stepped onto the center circle. The apparatus glowed in response to Lloyd's presence. Lloyd staggered as the platform lowered itself downward.

"So is this like an elevator or something?" Lloyd silently muttered. "Definitely the weirdest one I've seen. This thing is even more creepier than the one in the Tower of Salvation."

When the elevator reached the bottom. Lloyd was shocked at the sight of what he saw. There, he saw the bottom portion of what the pillars he saw earlier. They were bones. Each pillar was a spine with sharp protrusions of vertebra sticking out in all directions. Most were bare of flesh. Some however, were damp with fresh, green blood. The area smelled of death. Monster skeletons lied in every nook and cranny. Lloyd looked down and his eyes bulged out like golf balls and his stomach lurched. The floor, or rather, skeleton he was standing on was the back of a giant, magnificent dead dragon. Holding in his vomit, Lloyd continued on, running down the path created by the dragon's spine.

"What exactly is the hell is this place? Dead monsters everywhere and giant dragon skeletons... Argh, I have to find a way out of here." Lloyd hurried platform after platform. The area he was in was quite haphazard. Glowing circles in eerie red lit the ground. The air smelled less of rotting flesh, but was heavy on Lloyd. Finally, after running over countless platforms, he reached the end. A massive gateway stood in front of him. "This gate... I hope I find answers here." Lloyd entered.

The chamber was massive. Two massive flame pillars lit the entire room. The red hue of the walls emitted an intimidating pressure. At the very rear of the room, stood a huge framed monolith surrounded by a massive arch. Encased in the entire center of the structure was eight orbs. Each with its own color and symbol. "Hey," Lloyd said, "Aren't those symbols the same as the ones on the elevator?"

Lloyd moved closer to examine them. Behind the monolith he noticed that there was portal in the arched structure. It was open wide. "What the hell is this?" Lloyd stammered. Then he ducked.

With amazing speed, Lloyd dodged the lance that barely missed him by a hair's length. "Dammit! I let my guard down!" Lloyd cursed and looked around. He was surrounded by monsters. Many of them he had never even seen before. Black centaurs held their lances, ready to skewer the human standing in front of them. Giant Cerberus had fire sparks drooling from their mouth, glaring at their meal in front of them. Mermaids with arrows at the ready aimed at the eternal swordsman. With no allies to help him, he was clearly outnumbered. There was no sight of the two he saw earlier. "Shit! I'll have to handle all of these guys by myself!" Lloyd drew his blades and charged.

The mermaids fired their arrows, raining Lloyd with a shower of sharp points. With his blades, Lloyd slashed through them with ease, then retaliating with a Demon Fang, slicing two in half in a storm of blood and gore. The centaur knights, not wanting him to get away, let loose a fury of thrusts. Blades flashing, Lloyd countered and slashed one in half with a tiger blade. The other tried to skewer him with a series of lance thrusts but was stopped abruptly with a wind pressured Hurricane Thrust to the chest, only leaving a huge dent where his heart was. Enemies swarmed around Lloyd. With a huge might of power, Lloyd spun his blades around and unleashed a huge arc of battle energy. "RAGING BEAST!" Lloyd screamed and wiped out the enemies unlucky enough to get caught in the attack.

"Pant, pant... How many more are there? ARGH!!" Lloyd cried out in agony as arrows struck his left arm and leg. Blood spewed out. The large yet swift Cerberus rushed out in front with open jaws. Lloyd pulled the arrows out and impaled them in the neck of the behemoth, instantly cutting of the blood supply of the creature and killing the beast. Crimson red sprayed everywhere. The other monsters, not minding the defeat of its comrade, continued their relentless assault on Lloyd. The hungry ones already started their feast on the dog like creature. Lloyd continued to fend off as many of them as he could.

Massive Birds with green and white feathers flew came from above, dive bombing Lloyd with their sharp claws. "Dammit!" Lloyd cursed. He could not reach them while they were in midair. Not only that, they were quick and agile. The circled him like vultures. A giant cyclone enveloped Lloyd, the sharp blades of air cut his skin, leaving wisps of blood flying in the air. Lloyd ignored the pains of his injuries and quickly swallowed a miracle gel. He felt some of the pain lessened and jumped in the air. He gathered all the power in his fire elemental blade and did a continuous somersault of blades. "FIERY TEMPEST!" Lloyd shouted as the swords cut through the wings in a storm of flames and feathers.

It was still too early to celebrate. Blue, winged Harpies soon arrived on the scene, casting First Aid and Heal on their injured creature friends. The monsters, with renewed flesh kept charging with determination on the thought of tasting flesh. Lloyd on the other hand, was taking heavy damage and quickly running out of gels. He was getting pushed back towards the wall. "DEMONIC CIRCLE!" Lloyd crashed his blades down with a huge force that formed a gigantic shock wave around him that vaporized nearby monsters, leaving nothing but dust scattering over the battlefield. He had his back on the monolith now. Blood was leaving him fast; his eyesight was dimming. As a last ditch effort, he gathered all the mana he had. The monsters charged. "I'LL SHOW YOU! DIVINE JUDGMENT!" His body glowed with mana. As Lloyd shouted these words in full determination, his blades combined in a huge flash into the blade that controls time and space itself: the Eternal Sword. "FALCON'S CREST!" With an almighty battle cry, Lloyd slammed the blade into the ground, causing massive fissures to form and earth and fire rose up in an angry conflagration, crushing and incinerating those who were in the area indiscriminately.

"I... did it..." Lloyd was surrounded by the corpses of dead monsters. The smell blood iron was in the air. He could barely stand. His blades, one flame red and the other indigo blue, were glowing softly, as in response to their master's weakness. He barely walked a couple steps when the area around him erupted in a huge whirlwind of magenta, making a huge howling sound. Lloyd cried out in agony as he crashed against the metal monolith. The impact caused the red orb on the topmost center to break off from the wall with a thunk. It fell to the ground and rolled into Lloyd's blood stained hand. He held it tightly and braced himself.

The red Harpies were advancing on him. Behind him was the open portal. At this point, Lloyd was lying face down and could no longer put up a fight. The half birds, half ladies cast their spell . The world was enveloped in red as the Bloody Howlings sent Lloyd flying into the portal. The world went dark.

* * *

Author's Note:

Phew! This is longest that I have written for fun (meaning something other than a school essay). I think I really should do more of this often! Oh for those of you reading this, would you please, PLEASE tell your friends to read this because I do want people to check this. I know that I have huge grammatical errors. More importantly, I want reviews from you guys to see if this is a good story. Yes, I want good, medium to long criticism but no flamers. Those of you that flame 1) are haters, 2) have no respect for other peoples' ideas and 3) unless you have some sort of work that is EXTRAORDINARY to prove your point then you really have no right to disrespect others' hard work and ideas.

The real point of this note is I want to have a poll on what your favorite pairings are. If you want pairings in this story, please, feel free to tell me. Just so you know, I am highly pro-Colloyd. If there are no votes, then I'm gonna stick with that pairing. Next chapter will start with Tales of Symphonia's storyline. Hopefully, it won't take too long for me to write it. Being a high school senior sucks. Peace!


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